


Whist

by Samuraiter



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Holly Poly, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3132488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/pseuds/Samuraiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A relationship of four partners is not unlike a game of give and take ... or a game of fluff, depending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JayGreen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayGreen/gifts).



Mamoru placed both hands on the mug he had in his lap, letting the heat soak into his bones. _Another cold day,_ he thought, listening to the rain beating on the roof of the house he and the others shared. _A house, huh?_ Still hard for him to believe. More than once, he had caught himself driving back to the apartment he longer had, following the same habit he had for years. But he – _they_ , rather – had a house. And it had a two-car garage, one of many things he had never envisioned having in the past. Then again, he had never envisioned living long enough to become _Doctor_ Chiba Mamoru, either.

And yet he had. He had a practice, office hours, all of it, almost as if the other life he had been made to live had never happened. But it had. Proof of it sat next to him on the sofa in the person of Kaiō Michiru, Sailor Neptune ... and violinist in the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, these days. _Not Usagi,_ he mused, _not until she gets home, at least._ And how had Michiru, of all people, come to be there? _Funny story, that._ The thought must have been clear on his face, since she looked up from her sheet music and tilted her head to one side to indicate her curiosity.

"Still has yet to sink in, hmm?" she asked in the bemused way she had, taking a second to adjust her silver-rimmed glasses – a recent birthday gift from a certain Doctor Mizuno Ami – on her nose. "After everything?" And saying _everything_ encompassed quite a number of things. Before, they had been Mamoru and Usagi, then Haruka and Michiru, then ... all of them together. Hard for Mamoru to believe that it had already been three years since they had all agreed to take that step. Harder for him to believe that it had been so easy for him to say yes.

"No, it has, it has," he said, setting his tea down on the coffee table in front of them, "but there are times I have to take a step back and marvel at the whole thing." As if prompted, Michiru put aside her sheet music and scooted next to him, and he put one arm around her waist, his fingertips brushing against her belly – she had about three months to go in her pregnancy, they had figured – through the fabric of the blue pastel dress she had picked for that day. Above them, the rain continued to pitter-patter on the roof, not quite as hard as before.

"Make room," said Haruka as she returned to the room from the garage, wiping her hands on a drop cloth before discarding it a bucket by that door. Changing the oil for a slate-colored sedan that had a top speed in the double digits might not have been as fun as anything she had to do on the track for one of her races, but it still had to be done. She planted herself on the sofa next to Michiru, but she leaned across her lap to give Mamoru a peck on the cheek. Once upon a time, that might have been unthinkable, but ... it happened every day, nonetheless.

"Before you ask," Michiru noted, "no, he hasn't thought of a name yet today." Mamoru pretended to roll his eyes. "Chibi-Michi is _not_ on the menu, either." She smiled her soft smile. "And yes, Usagi will be home from seeing Ami soon. Only a regular check-up, after all." Usagi had insisted upon having Ami be her doctor as soon as she discovered, after years of trying, that she had become pregnant, and the only person who had been happier than she had been at that discovery had been Chibi-Usa. ... She did not _quite_ seem to appreciate the paradox.

"I still like Ikuko," Haruka replied, shrugging, "but, yeah, no Chibi-anything. It's already going to be confusing enough having two Chibi-Usas around." She blew aside a lock of sandy hair that had fallen over one year. "At least one's promised to babysit the other. That'll help some." Not only that, but the first Chibi-Usa – hard to believe she had a car, a license, and a job to pay for both – had offered to drive her mother back and forth from her doctor visits. She had come a long way from being the little girl holding her parents(-to-be) at gunpoint.

"I'd be all right with Ikuko," Mamoru admitted, "after everything she's done for us, especially." He had been relieved that his in-laws had taken a shine to him, though it had required a little time ... and staying quiet on the subject of Haruka and Michiru, at least for the time being. Kenji and Ikuko had open minds, but – "Anyway, there's no law saying we _have_ to name the one Chibi-Usa." He shrugged. "I'd say that's more of a 'just in case' thing. For all we know, she'll pop out purple-haired and looking like her grandmother, not like Chibi-Usa."

At that point, the front door popped open, and Mamoru thought he could hear the sound of multiple shopping bags. Not unexpected. Chibi-Usa had been offering to take her mother to the maternity store for ages, and she had most likely offered to carry all the bags, too. (Michiru had three months to go, but Usagi could pop at any time, Ami had cautioned after the previous visit.) Sure enough, amidst all of the bags, he spied two very big, very similar smiles, and a familiar warmth filled him as he rose from the sofa with Haruka to go help them unload everything.

But he must have paused there for a second, since Haruka elbowed him gently in the ribs and said, the smirk on her face complementing the smile in her eyes, "You can get sentimental in a minute. I think we've got baby clothes to fold." He almost told himself it was not like her to be so soft on him, but he had to remind himself that he and Usagi, like Michiru, had come to know the private Haruka, the one hiding behind the tough façade that he saw on the track, a very warm and loving person. He glanced over his shoulder at Michiru, and he received a nod.

 _Sentimental?_ Mamoru thought. _Me?_ He looked around him, looked at the people who had invited him into their lives. _Maybe. Just a little._ And he smiled.

 **END**.


End file.
